From the no surprise department, ratings plunged for the latest edition of golf’s “The Match.” Plus, reports have the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. exhibition exceeding one million buys, Formula 1’s Bahrain GP hit a three-year low, and more.
As one would expect, ratings sink for “The Match” III
The third edition of the golf exhibition “The Match” — this time pitting Peyton Manning and Stephen Curry against Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley — averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.02 million viewers on TNT last Friday. Ratings plunged 83% and viewership 82% from the previous edition, which featured Tiger Woods and Tom Brady along with Manning and Mickelson, aired on four networks, and was one of the first live sporting events after the wave of cancellations and postponements in March (3.5, 5.67M).
Reports have Tyson-Jones Jr. exceeding one million buys
Last weekend’s boxing card headlined by Mike Tyson’s exhibition against Roy Jones Jr. generated more than one million buys, according to sources cited by boxing reporter Dan Rafael and MMA Fighting. Per the former, the total exceeds that of the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury bout earlier this year.
F1 Bahrain GP at three-year low
Last Sunday’s Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, which was delayed more than an hour due to a fiery crash involving Romain Grosjean, averaged a 0.31 rating and 500,000 viewers on ESPN2 — down 30% in ratings and viewership from last year, when the race was held as scheduled in April (0.44, 711K). It was the least-watched edition of the race since it aired on CNBC in 2017 (0.25, 413K).
Plus: PTI, UFC, PBA, ISU GP
ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption averaged 836,000 viewers on Monday, surpassing the November 16 edition (818K) as the show’s most-watched episode since February. … Airing immediately following college football, ESPN’s latest UFC main event averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.06 million viewers last Saturday night — the series’ second-largest audience since May. An October main event averaged 1.10 million, also following college football. … Airing adjacent to FOX NFL coverage, bowling’s PBA League All-Star Clash averaged a 0.8 rating and 1.35 million viewers last Sunday — the second* most-watched non-football sporting event over Thanksgiving weekend. … Taped coverage of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating from Japan averaged a 0.6 and 921,000 on NBC Sunday, flat in ratings and up in viewership from last year (0.6, 848K).
* Correction 12/13: A LigaMX match on Univision averaged 2.5 million viewers on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.
[Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 12.2 a b; Rafael/Twitter 12.1 a, b; MMA Fighting 12.2]
